Chapter 1

Part 1: The Phoenix.

The Grand Duke of Fenix, Alice Blodeuwodd Duke Fenix.
Month 11, day 16, ADB 1706 [11:14] || Month 2,  day 13, UT 8992 [20:14]
Inside the Windorn Palace, the main office quarters of the monarch. 

 

Inside the office quarters of Windorn Palace, the aroma of roasted coffee permeates the room as a plume of steam rises into the air from a mug. The mug was placed on a rare porcelain plate and arranged neatly on the desk. Besides the cup was a floating holographic wide monitor that displayed several documents about reports of a star and its unusual behavior. A sound came abruptly, originating from the person sitting on a chair and her red eyes glared at the monitor. Her fingers repeatedly tapped on her armrest and removed the ambience of the silence.

The lady's name was Alice Blodeuwodd Duke Fenix, the Grand duchess of the Oslaris Galaxy and the divine beast that almost every living revered. She dressed in a suit. She wore white sleeves paired with a deep blue vest, a red tie, and long slick black pants. Her usual dress compliments the fiery red tinge of her orange hair and red eyes.

In a few moments came silence when the lady stopped the movements of her fingers. Her eyes stared at the monitor as if she were trying to drill a hole into the holographic display and keep her raging emotions hidden from sight. Her hands intuitively grabbed the mug handle and guided the mug to her mouth. As if the powers of the caffeine made her emotions calm down, her eyes began to follow the lines of words displayed on the monitor. Her eyes incidentally attended to the current time shown in the bottom corner of the floating monitor.. 

Derailed from reading momentum, she was preoccupied with a sudden thought, 'Now that I think about it, the servant must have finished preparing.'

She placed the cup down with subtle elegance and majesty. The mysterious aura she exuded would make anyone stop in awe of her presence. However, the expression she carried would slightly intimidate anyone. 

Occupied by thoughts, a chime from a metallic door rang, and a deep voice followed from the other side.

"Your Grace, I have come to report some information regarding the gift for the Young Lady and others."

"Enter."

The door slid sideways, revealing a tanned man with dark hair and deep blue eyes. He entered the room, prompted by the Duchess, and the metallic door closed quietly behind him. The tanned man was tall, and his uniform showed his position as a servant in the mansion. He is the majordomo who overseers the servants of the Fenix Family and is well-regarded by many.

His name -

"Sebastian, did any problem occur?" Alice asked, affixing her gaze to the man taller than her.

Sebastian bowed in front of her before replying,

 "We have finished preparing the room the Young Lady requested and the venue for the servants and workers to use. However, there was a slight problem regarding the gift for Lady Vanessa."

"The gift?" Alice inquired with a subtle confusion, "Did she not like my gift? I was so certain that Vanessa would like it."

"That is..." the butler was slightly dubious, yet it didn't reflect on his expression or voice. 

Before Sebastian could continue, the metallic door rang another chime. The conversation between the two stopped in expectation of the voice that usually would follow, but the metallic door slid open without permission, indicating the person's position in the mansion. Because of that, Alice and Sebastian knew who the person was. 

"Hello, your Grace!"

The voice overflowing with energy came from an adolescent girl with a red tinge in orange eyes and short hair. She wore a uniform suited for school, her long gray sleeves revealing the bulge on her chest despite the navy blue coat with a gray skirt. 

"Happy birthday, Vanessa." Alice greeted her sister, "have you received the gift I sent?"

Vanessa walks up close to the desk while wearing a confused face "Gift? I haven't yet since I was doing some practice on T12 lightning mk.3 in the Dive Simulator just before."

Hearing that, Alice glances at Sebastian as if prompting him to explain.

"Your Grace, your package has arrived from the FLD studio." Sebastian explained, "However, there were two of them. It seems that lady Vanessa also ordered one for herself."

"Oh?" Vanessa lets out a dumbfounded voice. 

Alice was also surprised, but her reaction was kept minimal.

"FLD Studio?" Vanessa inquired, seemingly excited as her gaze shifted between the two, "Did you buy the latest Full Dive Console with the Yggdrasil game installed, Your Grace?"

"Indeed," Alice confirmed with a regretful voice, "But it seems that was a mistake."

"Wait!" Vanessa hurriedly replied, "Actually, I wanted to buy two Full Dive consoles so we could play together. But I hesitated since I was unsure if you would like to play the game, so I wanted to test the game before buying another console and inviting you to play with me. Not to mention, the delivery payment is expensive!"

Somehow, it triggered Vanessa's hyperactive state, and walks around the large desk to come closer as she looked at Alice with great expectations reflected in her eyes.

"But I'm so glad that you also bought one. So this means only one thing! We should play together!"

Alice was taken aback by how close Vanessa was to her and unable to reply immediately. She wasn't feeling uncomfortable but instead was not used to skinship. 

Alice felt slightly guilty and replied, not allowing her eyes to meet with Vanessa's, "I don't mind, but what do you want for your birthday?"

"I want the beautiful sister of mine to take time from her work to rest and play a game with me! Spending time together is worth more than trillions of gems!"

Vanessa declared with a proud smile and hugged the anxious Alice. Vanessa exclaimed with a high pitch, "Gosh! My Big sister is so adorable."

Surprised by the sudden skinship, the Duchess - who works at the office desk nonstop, Alice felt surprised. However, Alice didn't object to it but welcomed it and hugged Vanessa back.

"I see. If you say so." Alice chuckled as she patted Vanessa's back.

Vanessa was surprised by Alice's sudden response with affection, and her body stiffened. She felt that her face was heating up and became flustered. Vanessa broke out from Alice's embrace while shying her eyes away with a bright red countenance. Vanessa spoke in a hurried gesture.

"ANYWAYS! The game will open later on zero-zero in universal time, so log in to the game when you have time and contact me later in the game! Excuse me as I have to prepare myself. Later!"  

 - And just like that, Vanessa quickly escaped through the door that slid silently.

Her sister's retreating left Alice dumbfounded, shocked even. Her thoughts ran wild from 'did I do something wrong' to 'Am I perhaps reeking of bad smell?'. Ruminating over, she slowly became paranoid until her eyes took attention to the grinning butler. 

'Is that grin a good or bad one?' Alice thought, 'wait, what made your emotionless face cause so much change?'  

Alice took a deep breath and calmed herself. She shifted her attention and looked at the clock displayed on the monitor while being occupied with some thoughts. 

- Month 02, day 13, UT 8992. [20:21]  

You are reading story Yggdrasil’s Knowledge Seekers at novel35.com

'The opening of the game is 00:00 universal time, huh?' Alice ponders her schedule, 'That would mean 13:00 in our local galaxy time. I finished everything I had for today to attend Vanessa's party. I should probably find a schedule sometime where I can play the game.'

She could have a contract with the Nation Protocol One to hire an administrative-class android, which other governors and rulers usually do. Almost all the sector governors under Alice have bought administrative class android to assist them managed territory. While outside of the Fenix Duchy, most governors use administrative-class android to oversee the domain. But regardless of what others do, Alice is headstrong in managing the duchy.  

The only work that defines why she is the head of the Grand Duchy of the Fenix Family. Alice wants to spend time with her sister, but the responsibility that she holds takes away her freedom. 

One of the factors of having the blood of the Phoenix was due to her seemingly immortal figure. Most humans can live up to 700 years on average, while they can live longer than a thousand only if they have a healthy lifestyle. Alice's appearance from 70 years ago was still the same as the present, and Vanessa has lived nearly a hundred years and has a mature figure. Vanessa is restrained by time, while Alice isn't. It is only natural for Alice to follow what is important.

She massaged the bridge of her nose and calmed her breathing before she started talking. 

She looks at Sebastian, addressing him, "Next agenda.”

"The religion of the Divine Beast has delivered a paper envelope," Sebastian replied as he took out an item from his vest.

At first, it looked like a plastic envelope, but Sebastian took the paper envelope stored inside. Paper is a precious commodity and worth more than a kilo of iron. It is still an expensive item for regular use, especially using paper for writing letters and delivering items between systems and galaxies is very expensive. But knowing that the Church uses papers for religious ceremonies and the like, it didn't feel odd to Alice. 

Sebastian took a silver knife underneath his coat and carefully slit the envelope. Afterward, he placed the envelope on the table before continuing. 

"It is an invitation for your grace to join the Day of Pioneer Festival."

Alice took the letter and inspected the stamped sealing wax. A bird with open-wide wings, or so to say, the divine Phoenix with open arms. It is the iconic logo of the religion of the divine beast. 

She feels conflicted whenever she is revered and praised by the people and feels heavier than her work.  

'Divine beast...' Alice thought, 'yet the Divine beast cannot manifest the powers one should have. Divine beast, my ass.'

She felt overwhelmingly guilty for the influence she should not have. The previous Divine beast, Angela Del Dharia Fenix, is the person who made the image of a divine beast. Alice had contributed none toit. However, as someone born as a Duchess and given the power to rule an autonomous galaxy, she had no reason not to use this influence. She swallowed her feelings and opened the letter.

The letter contains magniloquent greetings and the desire for the presence of Alice at Pilru B a, also known as Pilcuth planet, located in Pilru G2XL p10 for three days and two nights on the 12th day of the 3rd month in universal time. The day of the Pioneer Festival is equivalent to the New Year festival held in Capital cities. Skipping over the unnecessary details, Alice finished the letter immediately. It didn't contain the information she was looking for. 

Alice threw the letter to the table and let out a sigh.

"Reject it. Send Captain Tavushi as my representative, and state that I am too busy managing the territory." 

'Your Grace...' Sebastian's inner retort almost escaped, 'I can see that you finished an entire week's worth of work as usual.' 

"Captain Tavushi, is it?" Sebastian repeated.

Alice took off her eyes from the letter and looked at Sebastian, "Yes. If I remember correctly, Captain Tavushi's hometown neighbors the Pilru system, right? Have him take a break and the soldiers under him after the pioneer festival."

Usually, declining an invitation from the higher class or to ones with a lot of influence is considered rude, especially when one uses paper as an invitation. One of the consensuses of the universe is that all must follow the words of the Phoenix, and none shall refuse. Divine Beast is the pinnacle of all beings, viewed only lesser to gods. Divine beings are feared yet revered and respected religiously, which was the image that her Mother created. 

Sebastian replied, "I will see to it."

"Any updates from the investigators' team?" Alice inquired, tapping the armrest with her fingers once more. 

"We haven't received any updates," Sebastian answered.

'Still no updates, huh?' Alice thought, constantly repressing her feelings of unrest within her. 'it's been 70 years since the investigation started, yet no changes in status. It's been more than a hundred years since I was born, but I still cannot manifest the powers that a Phoenix should have. The people have been waiting for more than 70 years for my power to manifest. How much do I have to wait until I can use it? What do I even need to do to manifest my powers?'

As fears slowly swallowed her more and more, Alice's expression fell into despair, yet not a tear fell from her eyes. A ruler should never know how to weep and was not allowed to be emotional. Alice envisions that it is unfit for rulers to grieve, and a divine beast should never know despair. Alice bottled her feelings and made her expression unchanging before talking.

'The church has failed to invite Alice to take rest.' Sebastian judged. 'All the people are counting on you, Lady Vanessa.'

"Next."

Sebastian, who observes her master silently across the desk, knows what worries the Duchess - no, everyone knows what worries the Duchess yet won’t overstep their boundaries as a servant. Furthermore, Alice does not want to connect with other people for fear of losing them over time. Leaving Alice at her devices was the best solution they could think of so that she could learn how to deal with and surpass these challenges.

'If only her Highness Ange could have lived to guide her daughter,' Sebastian pondered, 'yet gods could be cruel. Why could there be only one Phoenix that could live at a time?' 

Sebastian replied with a firm expression, "There are no further agendas, Your Grace."

"I see," Alice said, devoid of emotions. "Then leave, and notify me when the party starts."

'We're counting on you, Lady Vanessa.' He complied with the order and bowed before leaving the office. 

Silence fills the room once more, and the feeling of solitude occupies the atmosphere. To keep her mind busy, Alice pondered about changing her schedule. 

To create a time for her sister and to spend time together until her last breath. Although there are medicines that would prolong her life, and even becoming immortal is possible in many ways, it is Vanessa's decision to make.

The initial idea was to change her working hours, whereas she would work at night and play together with Vanessa during the day. As compelling as the plan is, she does not want her people to suffer from her selfish decisions. 'It was unfit for a Duchess and Divine Beast,' those thoughts warned her.

'But it should be okay to be lenient, at times?' Alice questioned herself, unknown of what it meant  to be indolent.

As a Divine Beast Phoenix, she does not need to eat or feel exhaustion. Her physical growth also slowed down, and it is more than a hundred years since she was born, yet she still has her young adolescent body since she was 30. Despite Vanessa who has lived for more than 70 years, she has a young adult that would eventually become an adult after a few decades. 

Alice decided to play the game at night and work during the day. However, if Vanessa plans to play together, Alice would change her schedule. She planned on working diligently, so she would open time to play with her sister.

Vanessa has a limited time in the universe, and Alice has none. 

 

 

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